Rongey: Control is key for two Sox pitchers

It's been difficult to locate encouraging aspects of the White Sox' game this season, especially since a sickly homestand all but drained the excitement gained in the previous road trip and six-game winning streak.

So since we've made ourselves nauseous highlighting the negative the last two weeks, let me present a couple of currently minor (yet potentially significant) recent occurrences.

We're talking about sample size here, and it's a small one, but there is reason to be encouraged by what both Carlos Rodon and Daniel Webb did over the last few days.

In Rodon's three starts prior to Friday's game in Houston, he averaged nearly a walk per inning in each of them. As we've seen many times before, high walk totals lead to high pitch counts and shorter outings. This isn't new baseball science.

What was heartening is the no-walk performance in the series opener against the Astros. Granted, Houston is a free-swinging team that's prone to strikeout, but they're also in the mid-range of AL teams in terms of walk totals. So, they will take a free pass if you give them one.

Rodon didn't, though, and it's his first major league start in which he made hitters work to reach base. Simply put, he threw strikes.

Maybe it was the extra off days in between starts, or the added work this week with pitching coach Don Cooper, but Friday's version of Rodon will be tough to beat, and I figure we'll be seeing that version often in his career.

Staying in and around the strike zone means his slider will be even more devastating and his changeup will be tougher to lay off. If Rodon is wild, hitters won't bite at those pitches. Just imagine you're a guy facing him and every one of those pitches looks like a strike out of the hand. Good luck with that.

Meanwhile, nearly two years ago, Webb had been considered the Sox' closer of the future, though his stint in 2014 didn't really indicate that would happen anytime soon. Like Rodon's first few starts, poor control lead to too many base-on-balls for Webb and too many problem innings.

However, after getting the call-up this past week in place of Scott Carroll, Webb has looked like the guy the Sox were hoping would someday be their ninth-inning guy. Obviously, you can't read much into just a couple of appearances, but Webb didn't really ever before put together consecutive appearances as sharp as the ones he's given the Sox so far. Prior to Saturday's game, he's walked nobody.

The results have been good, but that's not really important just yet. What is important is that he just looks better on the mound. In an extremely limited example, Webb is hitting the glove. That's something that escaped him last year.

There's no guarantee it will continue, but the Sox will have added a lively arm to the bullpen mix if it does. They could use him.

And don't forget, they're still hopeful for a Nate Jones return around the All Star break.

• Chris Rongey is the host of the White Sox pregame and postgame shows on WSCR 670-AM The Score. Follow him on Twitter at @ChrisRongey and at chrisrongey.com.